Vegan Diet

[GordonH]

I understand not killing animals to eat meat, but why not the eggs or milk?
V!

First off I'm not a vegan.

I suspect the reason is the whole dairy & egg producers are exploiting cows & chickens.

Vegans are vegetarians to the extreme, I'm sure others will provide pages to read

[OREZ]

What does "the ethical treatment of animals" mean to you?
I'm curious because I'm pretty sure that it means different things to different people.

Well as I have stated, I am not vegan so what I think is ethical treatment of animals doesn't really add much to this specific topic.
But if you are having a hard time understanding what a vegan stands for, Google is a wonderful tool.

Fair enough but I’m just curious as to what ethical treatment of animals means to actual people on here, not random copy/paste blogs on google. I understand if you don’t want to get into specifics though.

I understand not killing animals to eat meat, but why not the eggs or milk?
V!

Well I think it has a lot to do with animal farming. The treatment of the cows and chickens are pretty horrendous. Neither will ever see day light, and will live in cages.

While that’s true of agri-business, it’s certainly not true of 100% of farming so it doesn't really answer the question, “why be a vegan rather than a vegetarian?” Why not just choose free-range, old-school sources of eggs and cheese, for instance? This is becoming a more popular choice for more and more people, it seems. Some people are starting to actually take an interest in seeing where their food comes from and I think that’s cool.

Anyway, I'm not necessarily asking these questions to you specifically or trying to put you on the spot, I'm just throwing these questions out there in general, as a reaction to your comments.

[Glacier]

I understand not killing animals to eat meat, but why not the eggs or milk?
V!

Because every sperm is sacred (or something like that).

[JLives]

Vegan turned hunter is a thing too. I know I feel far better physically after eating game meat than any other kind. http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Ethi ... story.html

[V-Rated]

Having a pacifist upbringing, we did not eat meat because it involved taking a life... but not making use of the products they create doesn't make sense to me and am looking for clarification.
It is like planting a seed and not eating the fruit it produces.
~V~

[Rosemary1]

From a site on internet: Vegan is different from vegetarian. Vegan diet is much more limited and sounds much more boring.

Neither vegans nor vegetarians eat meat. However, while vegetarians tend to consume dairy products and eggs, a vegan avoids all animal products, including eggs and dairy, and often inedible animal-based products, such as leather, wool, and silk. Vegetarianism is usually a diet, while veganism is a lifestyle. Vegetarians often choose their diet based on its reported health benefits or for religious or political reasons. In general, vegans have much stronger political beliefs regarding their diet, with some believing animals should be protected under many of the same laws that humans are.

Introduction
Veganism is a philosophy and compassionate lifestyle whose adherents seek to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes meat (including game and slaughter by-products; fish, shellfish and other sea animals; and poultry). There are several variants of the diet, some of which also exclude eggs.

Diet
Vegans do not consume meat, eggs, milk, honey or any food that is derived from animals. Do not eat meat or fish. Some do consume dairy and some vegetarians consume eggs. Lacto-vegetarian: eating dairy products. Ovo-vegetarian: eating eggs. Do not eat gelatin or other animal by products.

Products
Do not use any animal derived products, e.g. fur, leather, wool, etc. Do not condone the use of animal testing. While vegetarians do not eat meat, most vegetarians do not mind using other animal-derived products, e.g. fur, leather, or wool

[primmed]

Being vegan is for most people is a bit hypocritical, I understand not wanting to eat meat from factory farms and such. There are those true vegans who I tip my hat too they walk around in hemp clothing and ride their bike every where and grow there own food, but honestly thats about .01%. The real truth of the matter is supporting a all plant based diet doesn't do a thing to stop the dead of animals. In reality you harm more animals lives and the lives are totally wasted not used for food.

I am a ex soy farmer and farmer in general, the amount of death that goes into plowing,planting and harvesting any agricultural crop is staggering, but never discussed. What kind of animals lived there before I tilled up that earth to plant my field…..Lots. I can tell you first hand look at any agri crop being harvested and you'll notice birds of prey and scavengers hovering around. Why, because tons of animals live in those fields and and when that crop is cut down so are the animals. Not to mention the great lengths farmers will go too protecting their field from wild animals that come into ruin their fields.

I hunt and grow what I eat for the most part but I am still guilty of fuelling destruction of the world. I wear cotton clothes that come from fields where animals once lived and from petroleum products the ruin the earth, but I do put the effort in to eat responsibly and I enjoy it.

So the next time a vegan is in urban fair buying the latest trend of raw food, wearing lulu lemons made from oil and drinking a starbucks in a cup made from tree cut down in the rain forest, they should ask them self what their real ethical standards are.

[Corneliousrooster]

I lived as a vegan for 6 years of my life - it was for health reasons , not ethical ones, and the results I saw in my body compared to what I was getting from western medicine was undeniable. After a time I began to reintroduce things like dairy and honey and have continued to live vegan/vegetarian/pescotarian for 20 years.

For me personally, my body functions better this way. It has been so long now I have not missed eating meat in years and I like to eat- so I learn how to cook creatively to make good tasty food. My meat eating friends request many of my dishes when having get togethers and are always impressed how much they like it even though there is no animal in it.

I don't understand why so people affix political and/or ethical stances towards food - I have felt the brunt of it living vegan/vegetarian as new people always seem to require me to explain myself or generalize me into a militant vegan and become offensive to me immediately. I don't understand why some people care so much what another ingests to sustain their existence.

As the great Maynard James Keenan sings -"life feeds on life - this is necessary"
Doesn't matter whether you are eating veggies/animals what have you , you are eating life so you can continue living.

A very eye opening documentary is cowspiracy (I think it is on Netflix ). I figured it was going to be an anti cow movie but turned into something else entirely - as long as humans need food and we are shipping food around the world it is very hard for any eating segment to maintain a moral high ground.

[sobrohusfat]